Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Carla TenEyck and the TenEyck Tuesday Experience!

CARLA is...Authentic, empowering others to be their true selves.Funny, letting others feel at ease.Intelligent, encouraging others to learn.Compassionate, causing others to feel cared for.Open, allowing us to be free.*****I've been looking for the right words. It's been hard to put my thoughts and feelings into words which translate effectively. I feel pretty good about what I captured above so I am going to leave it at that.

So here's the story. The abridged version. After being afflicted by a minor obsession, make that MAJOR obsession with the fact that I really wanted to pursue photography as a career earlier this year, I began to feverishly search for blogs and websites that illustrated the style and feel of the visions in my head. There are so many wonderful people and photographers out there, many have earned a bookmark on my computer, but one that stood out to me was Carla TenEyck. I loved her style, her honesty, her humor, her ability to draw me in by images and words. I was aware that she liked to mentor others by some of the posts I read on her blog, but I was too scared to reach out. But finally one day I just had to.

(***People, time to take your heads out of the sand and move towards your dreams, your goals, no matter how old they or you are. Go accomplish something and feel proud of yourself. You'll be surprised at how great it makes you feel.***)

So after I emailed her an initial email, I was prepared to never hear from her again. But, no joke, she emailed me back that night. After some back and forth exchanges, an awesomely gracious face-to-face meeting that I am so thankful for, and some serious money wrangling with my husband, I decided I was going to take part in Ten Eyck Tuesday! Yeah!!!! Okay, here's where we finally get to the meat of the story.

So, this particular Ten Eyck Tuesday took place on November 4th, Election Day. It was a super experience. Carla shared some mad skills and knowledge with us, introduced us to our models, hello Mr. & Mrs. Jack & Val McCormick (photographer extraordinaire and gorgeous woman to boot!), and then away we went to a train yard in Hartford where Mr. Jack works! So cool!

Ummm, at this point in the story my hands begin to shake and I am nervous! Folks, I am with the Nikki Nicole and the Sarah McCoy, both established photographers in their own right. To top it off I am photographing a photographer, and Carla is standing behind me! Ahhh! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

ANY WHO...so my hands are shaking, I move the gorgeous Val and Jack in between two trains, climb up one of the trains, and start snapping away...I am not getting what I want with light but here were some of the images I did manage to snag.

I love the way she has her hand in his pocket, pulling him closer...oooh, baby!!

This train may or may not have been running at the time...

Val had unfortunately hurt one of the toes on her foot so she was uncomfortable walking around a lot. In these shots I just asked them to stand still. Carla was perplexed by what I was trying to capture, but I liked the outcome. Even though they are standing there together, the photo reflects loneliness to me...

Ummm, hello bird, I didn't even see you when I was taking these photos...

This was taken at UCONN Law School in Hartford, though you would never be able to tell since I textured it up.

And what is a photo shoot of a beautiful woman without a shoe shot? Well, incomplete of course. But since Val had hurt her toe she wasn't able to wear hot, sexy shoes so I had to improvise....what do you think?? ;)

In conclusion, I am so happy I took part in Ten Eyck Tuesdays! Not only did I gain experience, I met some awesome people and really discovered where my weaknesses are. This, above all else, is the most important thing to me. I firmly believe that in order for us to grow in the right directions, we need to identify, understand, and eventually overcome our weaknesses. I truly appreciated figuring out some of what I need to work on, and am so excited to move forward! Thanks so much Carla!! ;)

5 comments:

giiiiiirrrrrrl! Those first three blow me away! You did an amazing job! Have faith in yourself and your talent...because you have it! What doesn't kill ya makes you stronger fo' sho! Whenever you doubt that talent, you call me up and I"ll be your cheerleader. You are an inspiration for taking on your dream.

YAY! I am so glad to see your take on your experience! And so proud of you for making the leap- you have got a great eye- the shot where I was totally not sure what you were going for while you were taking it, and then the shot you got from it?? TOTAL PROOF!

Keep it up Miss Katie Slater!!

You are such a wonderful person, I can't tell you how glad I am to have met you and am loving getting to know you better!! It was great seeing you at the PUG last night too!

Wow Katie, WE LOVE THEM! I don't know if you realize what a great photographer you are. I am so glad you wrote Carla and hope to see you around more. Not only are you a great photographer but your a kick butt writer too! I really enjoyed reading your blog. Sense of humor too :-) Love your "Shoe" shot. That had us cracking up. Isn't it amazing to follow your dreams....I love the phrase from an old me, it always stuck with, "It can happen" So glad to have meet you and hope to see you again soon.

I've been waiting and waiting for you to post your shots! It was well worth the wait! These are awesome! I remember you shooting the one where their backs were to you and I, too, was thinking "what the heck is she going for?" But you knew what you had and ROCKED it.

You're blog is now bookmarked and I can't wait to see whatever goodness you come up with :)

it's awesome to see others out here that are new to the business as well. I LOVE these shots that you took they are awesome and I am DYING to do Carlas workshop. DYING. I just work a FT job still so taking a Tuesday off is tough right now. Anyway keep it up because girl........ you DEFINATLY have "IT"!

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About Me

I am a fun, loving, curious, compassionate, artistic, old-souled, big-hearted, professional, kind, thoughtful, anxious, adventurous, classic, crazy, silly photographer, writer, and artist.
I am a mom to two fantastically magnificent boys, a wife to an amazingly supportive and optimistic husband, and an enthusiastic slave to my passions.
I love people. Learning about people, meeting new people, and taking part in people's lives. I feel so honored when I am chosen to document special moments in people's lives and I absolutely love the process of capturing the essence and soul of people in photographs.